The Nation: Transcipt - Chris Hipkins

Rachel Question time was
plunged into chaos this week with claims the new Speaker was
giving government's ministers an easy ride. Opposition
party say David Carter is failing to pull up government
ministers when they don’t answer questions or when they
add a few political jabs to their answers. They claim Prime
Minister John Key is the worst offender. Here's what
happened this week when Labour Leader David Shearer tried to
get a straight answer out of the PM.

'David Shearer:
If the member is saying we should go and back her then
that’s a pretty high standard and actually not one he held
himself to account to. Speaker: Point
of order. That latter part of that
answer was well off the question and actually was wrong in
addition to that. Speaker: I think
the question has been very adequately
addressed. We probably all have made
mistakes. I mean this member can't remember he's got in a
bank account …… Speaker:
Order. What specific action will be
taken to give the public an assurance that their personal
and private details are safe? Speaker:
Right Hon Prime Minister.

John Key: Well I'm
attempting to speak and say tell the Leader of the
Opposition he doesn’t tell anyone about his private
details. Speaker: Point of
order. Shearer: If the Prime Minister
thinks that this is somehow some trivial matter that he can
palm off he's wrong and I would appreciate it if he could
answer the question. Speaker: I
invite the Leader of the Opposition to reask that
question. JK: And yes I knew Ian
Fletcher I went to school with his brother, his brother was
way brighter than Grant
Robinson….. Speaker: Order. And
that answer does not assist the order of the
House. Trevor Mallard: Six times
yesterday you ruled against the Prime Minister for making
comments which were out of order at least, Mr Speaker
earlier when the Rt Hon Winston Peters made an out of order
comment he was required to withdraw, you have never done
that to the Prime Minister and I just want to know is it
gonna be even both ways. John Key: Mr
Speaker I can't be expected to withdraw that Grant
Robinson's not as bright as Alistair Fletcher
…

Speaker: Order. Order. Order. The Prime
Minister addressed the question and then added a remark that
was not helpful to the order of the house. I moved
immediately to stop him, I have now moved on, does the
member – order – does the member have a further
supplementary?

Mallard: Are you going to deal
with the now, with the wasting of time. You did not deal
with the Prime Minister.

Speaker: Order. I have
dealt with the matter. Order. The member will stand and
withdraw the comment.

JK: I withdraw, thank
you.

Point of order Mr
Speaker.

Speaker: If it's a fresh point of order
will entertain it but if it's a continuation of the other
then I will be asking the member to leave the
chamber. The point of order is whether
you have rewritten standing orders or Speaker's rulings
…Speaker: Sit down till I'm
finished. The member will now leave the chamber. The
member will leave the chamber. Point of order. Mr
Hipkins. Chris Hipkins:Mr
Speaker I'm now going to raise with you the point of order
that Mr Mallard was going to raise
… Speaker: No that is now
relitigating. Chris: Point of order
Mr Speaker. Point of order Mr
Speaker. Speaker: The member will now
leave the
chamber.'Rachel I think
I've seen better behaviour to be quite honest, in a
kindergarten than we saw in the House, Labour's Chief Whip
Chris Hipkins joins me now. Thank you for coming
in.

Good morning.

Rachel Gosh what
would have been the best way to resolve all of this rather
than all the sparring we saw this week. Would it not have
been better to have a private meeting with the Speaker to
address your concerns?

Chris Hipkins – Labour
Chief Whip Oh look it wasn't a great week for
anybody in the parliament, but I think ultimately it comes
down to the leadership that’s shown by the Speaker and by
the Prime Minister as well. When the Speaker allows the
Prime Minister to get away with having digs at the
opposition with absolutely no penalty if you like, and then
it's very hard on the opposition turfing opposition members
out of the House, that is going to lead to a certain amount
of frustration.

Rachel Lockwood-Smith was
considered a very good Speaker but he was something of an
exception wasn't he, because he did give opposition MPs a
fair hearing. Margaret Wilson though some would argue was
more like what we may have seen from David Carter this week.
Is it a reality when you have a government appointed Speaker
that there is going to be some bias
there?

Chris Well it's easy to look back
on Lockwood-Smith with rose tinted glasses. In fact when he
was appointed the Speaker the opposition has some concerns
about him as well. He was kinda put through his paces and
tested a little bit and over time I think he earned the
respect of the opposition. So David Carter was elected
without the support of the whole parliament, it was a
contested election and we didn’t necessarily support him
in the first place, but he's had an opportunity to earn the
opposition's respect, just as Lockwood-Smith
did.

Rachel Does it worry you that you
know the public looks at things like we saw in question time
and the public thinks look MPs we're paying these people,
they're acting like children?

Chris Oh
absolutely I do and you know I think that the Speaker can
certainly change the tone of parliament and I think
Lockwood-Smith did change the tone of parliament. You know
he implemented some relatively straight rules you know so if
you ask a straight question you'll get a straight answer.
If you ask a political question well you can expect a
political answer. That’s not what we're getting any more
now. Nobody sees David Carter has to be Lockwood-Smith, he
can be very different, he can have a different style and a
different approach, but some basic rules still need to
apply.

Rachel Do you think David Carter
wants to be Speaker?

Chris Um look he
didn’t seem particularly keen on the job, he said right
from the outset he was going to find it very difficult to
move from being a very political actor in the game to being
the impartial referee and certainly I think the first few
months that he's been in the job, that that’s been the
case.

Rachel Okay, so what can Labour do
then if it continues to feel frustrated at David Carter's
governance if you like?

Chris Well this
is one of the really frustrating things about the parliament
is actually the opposition has very little ability to do
anything, we rely on the Speaker to be the impartial referee
and in New Zealand's constitution arrangements we don’t
have an upper house, we don’t have a court that can strike
down rules. You know the parliament really is supreme,
parliament has the ultimate power, and the only thing the
opposition can do is question the government, hold the
government to account and we rely on the Speaker to do
that.

Rachel Given that Trevor Mallard
was thrown out and given that he has aspirations if you like
for that Speaker position, that probably didn’t help him a
lot did it?

Chris Oh look, I mean I think
I can understand Trevor's frustration, you know I got very
frustrated as well, I think that you know it would have been
much better if that whole situation had been
avoided.

Rachel Alright we have to leave
it there, Chris Hipkins appreciate you coming in though.
Thanks very much for you time this morning.

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